The Iowa State University motto “science with practice” captures the central theme of PPSI—promoting the application and translation of intervention science into community practice to improve people's health and well-being.
Mission:
To conduct innovative research promoting capable and healthy youth, adults, families, and communities—through partnerships that integrate science with practice.
Goals:
To study the effects of evidence-based prevention, positive youth development, and health promotion interventions for youth, adults, families and communities;
To examine factors influencing youth, adult, and family involvement in evidence-based prevention and health promotion interventions and intervention research projects;
To evaluate the quality and sustainability of school-community-university partnership networks for widespread implementation of evidence-based prevention, positive youth development, and health promotion interventions.
Results—what we’ve found:*
Tested interventions are effective, based on randomized, controlled studies; we have found—
Long-term reductions in substance use
Long-term positive effects on school engagement and academic success
Long-term conduct/behavior problem reduction
Positive youth protective factor and skills-building outcomes
Economic benefits (e.g., $9.60 return on every dollar invested)
School-community-university partnerships are an effective way to deliver evidence-based** interventions; we demonstrate—
Consistently high implementation quality
Consistently high intervention recruitment and retention rates
Sustainability of the interventions
Successfully implemented cultural adaptations
School-community-university partnerships are an effective way to evaluate evidence-based interventions; we show—
High levels of school recruitment and retention across studies
High sample quality across studies
Successful assessment of approximately 30,000 individuals—most of them longitudinally
Rigorous methods that support strong conclusions
* Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
**See Standards of Evidence document at www.preventionresearch.org
IMPACT Framework for School-Community-University Partnership Network
Linking public education systems and other service systems to ensure sustainable interventions and outcomes
Our partnership framework emphasizes the role of Land Grant University Extension agents in linking public school personnel—who aim to implement proven
programs for their students and families—with resources outside of the school, to promote health and well-being among youth and families. Extension
staff serve as linking agents like those described in Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Model. Our emphasis is on sustained, quality implementation
of evidence-based interventions (EBIs).
